In general, a keyboard for operating an information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer, includes keys for inputting information (letters) and keys (hereinafter, referred to as “control keys”) for switching information assigned to the keys for inputting information. Examples of the control keys include a “Num Lock key”, a “Caps Lock key”, a “Half-width/Full-width-Kanji key”, and a “Katakana-Hiragana-Romaji key”. In the following, the state in which predetermined information is assigned to any keys is referred to as an “input mode”. For example, there are two input modes of Num-Lock-“ON” and Num-Lock-“OFF” that are switched from one to the other by pressing the Num Lock key.
For example, in the case of a keyboard without a numeric keypad as used in a notebook computer (also referred to as a “laptop computer”), information “1” is assigned to a key “J” and information “2” is assigned to a key “K” in the Num-Lock-“ON” state. Therefore, the keyboard without a numeric keypad can realize the same functions as those of a keyboard with a numeric keypad.
However, in recent years, a technology for automatically switching the above-mentioned input mode has been proposed. For example, a technology has been proposed in which, when a cursor is moved to a predetermined letter on a word processor, a shift state is returned to the state in which the letter pointed out by the cursor was input.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 61-243519    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 59-008044    Patent Literature 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-231439
However, the above conventional information processing apparatus has a problem in that a user may be prevented from inputting intended information.
More specifically, a user may mistakenly operate a control key during operation of the information processing apparatus. In this case, the user may not input intended information even if the user presses a predetermined key. For example, in a notebook computer, when the Num Lock key is pressed and the input mode of Num Lock is turned “ON”, information “1”, rather than information “J”, is input by pressing the key “J”.
Users who are not familiar with the operation of the information processing apparatus often do not know that there are control keys or how to operate the control keys (for example, operation of simultaneously pressing a control key and the Ctrl key). Therefore, such users may not be able to re-operate control keys in order to reset information assigned to each key after the users have mistakenly operated the control keys. In this case, the users cannot input intended information and get confused.
In general, the controls keys, such as a “Num Lock key” and a “Caps Lock key”, are not frequently used, so that even users who are familiar with the operation of an information processing apparatus may not know that there are the control keys or how to operate the control keys. Therefore, it is highly possible that even users who are relatively familiar with the operation of the information processing apparatus cannot input intended information.
This type of problem cannot be solved even with the above-mentioned technology for automatically switching the input mode. This is because the above conventional technology is used to switch to the input mode corresponding to the input information pointed out by a cursor, and it is not always possible to switch to the input mode desired by a user.
Any components, expressions, arbitrary components, or the like of the information processing apparatus disclosed herein may be applied to any methods, apparatuses, systems, computer programs, recording media, data structures, or the like to form other embodiments.